Chapter 10: Challenging The Dungeon Alone
Username : Steel
Name : Arthur Pendragon
Class : | Swordsman Apprentice | ( Epic - Tier 1 )
Lvl : 10
Skills : 3/3 { Discerning Eyes } ( Lvl 1 ) , { Sword Mastery } ( Lvl 1 ) , { Beginner's Sword Energy } ( Lvl 1 )
HP : 340/340
EP : 210/210
Defense : 7.4
Physical Attack Power : 6
Magical Attack Power : 1
Mouvement Speed : 7
Stats : STR : 30
END : 29
AGI : 35
DEX : 16
INT : 5
WIS : 17
LUK : 6
Free Attribute Points : 0
Equipment :
[ Basic Steel One-Handed Sword ] ( Trash )
Lvl 1
Equipment requirement : STR 6
Physical Attack Power +4
Durability 25/25
Description : A hastily casted one-handed sword by a beginner blacksmith . You can't find worse in the Steel Village .
[ Light Steel Chestplate ] ( Trash )
Lvl 3
Equipment requirement : END 12 STR 12
Defense +5
Description : A hastily casted Chestplate that barely covers one's body but doesn't restrict mouvements .
Durability 40/40
[ Light Steel Gloves ] ( Trash )
Lvl 3
Equipment requirement : STR 10 END 10 DEX 5
Defense +2
Description : A hastily casted Steel Gloves that are light but not really protective .
Durability 25/25
[ Weak Runic Leather Cape ] ( Common )
Lvl 5
Equipment requirement : AGI 15
Defense +3
Agility +2
Effect : { Float } Gives the wearer the ability to float and not receive fall damage .
Description : A bad leather cape that was used for training by a apprentice runemaster . Atleast it works .
Durability : 20/20
Explanation : { Beginner's Sword Energy } ( Lvl 1 ) : Gives the user the ability to use prana through a sword to improve sharpness , durability . Possibility to shoot the energy out of the blade once used .
Damage : 10 + 30 % of EP
Consumption : 5 EP every 2 seconds if used close range . 50 EP if used long range .
Finishing updating his status , Arthur decided to head for the dungeon that he saw near the first wolf's cave he encountered . He thought of challenging it alone first to check the difficulty then come back with other players if it doesn't work . Leaving Stonedge city for the Steel Village , he couldn't help but wonder if he could save enough money to buy a shop in a city to take advantage of the fact that he was the first player to reach level 10 , he also knew that he probably couldn't clear every dungeon alone so he needed a team of competent players or even a guild to back him up , alas , he had no intention to join a guild so his only option was to create one . While walking through the portal and through the Steel Village , Arthur was wondering what name he should use for his future guild .
Soon he arrived at the dungeon in the woods and didn't waste any time as he quickly chose the Hell mode . The portal in front of him turned grim and dark . Arthur , checking the number of weak health potions and weak prana potions he bought back at Stonedge City , 5 of each that he got for the price of 4 silvers after bargaining , walked through the portal .
As soon as he got through the dizzy state of teleportation , he was greeted with a dense forest covered with a freezing fog that wouldn't allow him to see further than a couple of meters . Although the scene was calm and not a single sound was produced , his instinct kicked in as he bent his back , sucessfully dodging what appeared to be a poisened knife , now stuck in a tree . Arthur quickly followed the source of this attack , and met with what appeared to be a goblin , considering its ugly face and green skin . Alas , goblins didn't seem as dumb as they were depicted in other games since this green skin tried to sneak attack Arthur with a poisened knife . Of course Arthur wouldn't let this rogue-looking goblin escape from his grasp as he seemed quite efficient in hiding . After a quick chase , Arthur managed to hurt seriously the goblin with a powerful slash in its back . Although the blood that was now splattered everywhere due to the wound enabled him to follow the goblin and kill him quickly , he realized that his damage wouldn't be enough to endanger the goblin's life in one hit , and the bleeding effect he put the green skin under was the only reason the goblin was alarmed .
Yet , something felt off about this situation , this goblin was atleast level 10 , his quick slash would only deal something like 20 damage to it , so except if the goblin was an excellent judge of character , he couldn't see why it would run away from him so early , unless ....
Arthur chuckled a bit as realization hit him . The tracks of blood left by the goblin all went in the same direction , this green skin was baiting Arthur somewhere , it wasn't running away . But even if Arthur saw through the goblin's scheme , he still could only follow him in the trap as he knew that he couldn't properly walk through a forest filled with a dense fog . He could only be patient and cautious . He soon picked up the pace and followed the injured goblin . After about 10 minutes , the blood showed signs of a change in direction and also the tracks were much lighter than before , but just enough to be easily visible . This showed that the goblin already healed and the only reason it was still bleeding was that it needed blood to bait Arthur .
The experienced player didn't waste any time and he slightly altered his path , no longer completely following the traces of the goblin . After a while , the forest seemed less and less dense , and the fog was partially lifted , allowing Arthur to stray further from the path the goblin thought he would take .
He saw a lake and with his discerning eyes he picked the presence of a hobgoblin , even if he couldn't see him since he was too far away .
' Damn this skill is broken ' muttered Arthur seeing that he could see their presence even if they were out of his vision range . Checking the revealed stats of the hobgoblin , he had greater strength and endurance than Arthur , but every other stats were worse . Thinking that it was a hell mode dungeon , he thought that this hobgoblin wasn't any sort of boss and they must be loads of them near the lake . He quickly roamed around the lake at a safe distance for a bit before finally formulating a plan . Although he used quite the amount of EP ; he confirmed his guesses , there was a lot of hobgoblins waiting for him to walk after the blood tracks , but behind them was actually a whole hobgoblin village , but weirdly enough filled with warriors .
He thought of attacking those that were either asleep or relaxed in the village before backstabbing the rest , but his character and his passion for chivalry wouldn't allow him to do this so even if it was a bad idea , he decided to take head on the group of hobgoblin waiting for him . He quickly picked up the blood stains once again and soon appeared in front of approximately 15 hobgoblins who were sneering and probably feeling proud at their trap . Arthur didn't waste any time as he knew he was severely outnumbered and that there was still a great number of monsters back at the village , he rushed towards the nearest hobgoblin and mercilessly slashed him to try and injure as many as possible or even kill some before he would get swarmed by them . Although a single's strike of Arthur sword wouldn't normally seriously injure a hobgoblin , he was using sword energy as a coating for each of his attack , and coupled by his strong swordsmanship , he already put down 3 monsters before getting surrounded by now angry looking enemies .
In response , he simply watched coldly his surrounding , and prepared himself for a long fight that he could not come out completely unscated from .
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheHiddenSword
TheHiddenSword I'll do 1500-2000 words chapters from now on , they maybe will take a bit more than a day on the week days . Also let me know if you like the pacing and the scaling in power of this story . Thanks for reading .
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